During the Democratic National Convention, Bill Clinton exhorted everyone to tell voters about President Obama’s student loan reform. Then Samuel L. Jackson joined the fray, lauding it in his new ad for Obama that went viral in the last week. I was slightly confused both times because it felt like I was missing something.
With the attention the presidential race and Measure 80 have received, a lot of Oregon politics have slipped through the cracks, initiatives in particular.
With all of the past few months’ hype about Apple—like the new iPhone and its huge win against Samsung—some not-so-positive news managed to miss being publicized.
Initially, I wasn’t very excited about the sale of the PSU bookstore to a bigger corporation, because although the bookstore’s prices were never great, it was good that it was independently owned. I’m cautiously optimistic, but I hope the new management takes some things into
consideration.
Last month, Portland mayoral candidate Jefferson Smith said that Minnesota has more Fortune 500 companies because they’ve invested more in their public schools. He said this in support of a bond vote for Portland Public Schools. He was right, and it raises an important point: The way Oregon funds education damages our economy.
Last week I finally broke down and paid my summer term tuition. When I checked the billing statement in my email, I noticed that it had been graciously signed: “Thank you for supporting sustainability at PSU.” I tried to ignore it, but it made me think. Portland State has a long way to go before it can honestly claim to be sustainable.
Every once in a while, I’ll click the Google+ bookmark I still have saved in my web browser (because bookmarking Google+ was the only way I could remind myself to use it). It’s a barren sight. There are a few new posts from the handful of tech bloggers I have circled and a few comics from The Oatmeal, but that’s about it. None of my actual friends have posted anything and no one new that I know has joined. Google+? No—more like Google minus.
In the fall, Portland State senior Eric Wilkinson will be teaching a Chiron Studies course called The World of Roman Polanski. It took Wilkinson two terms to get the class approved, and when he put posters up to promote the course, people scrawled “Child Rapist” on them, forcing Wilkinson to put up new ones. Yes, Polanski is a controversial figure, but it’s time to get over it.
Every couple weeks, I see a link going around Facebook to a petition that calls for the government to erase all student debt. The creator of the petition sells it as a “real economic stimulus and jobs plan” and claims that erasing student debt will basically solve all the economy’s problems. The petition is getting close to reaching its goal for signatures, but I don’t understand how anyone could delude themselves into believing that it will change anything.
I was pretty upset when NASA was dealt huge funding cuts, and then I was upset again when it retired the space shuttle. I grew up in love with the idea of space travel (blame Star Wars), and I never grew out of it (blame Firefly). I figured since NASA was that much more inactive, the U.S. would have fewer and fewer people in space. But now I almost wish NASA had been scaled back sooner.
At the beginning of the year, I signed a lease with University Pointe. I didn’t know very much at all about apartments in Portland. I was a very, very stupid person from a much smaller suburban town, and I was impressed by the big, modern new building. I somehow convinced myself it would be a good idea to get a room reserved. But a few months later I realized: I’d made a huge mistake.